Home is Where the Heart Is
by Five Minutes Til Bedtime
Summary: Percy left more than Calypso on that island, he left his heart with her. One-shot.


Title: **Home is Where the Heart Is**

Summary: Percy left more than Calypso on that island, he left his heart with her. One-shot.

Fandom: Percy Jackson

Word Count: 1,501

* * *

The raft knocked against the shore gently. The vibrations startled Percy and made him raise his head. He hadn't been sleeping but his mind had been so far away he might as well have been dead. The familiar sight of the Camp Half-Blood beach twisted in his heart.

Here he was home.

He had never felt so miserable in his life.

Climbing slowly off the raft, he pulled the craft onto the beach and made sure it wouldn't drift off. The raft, his good health, and the simple white clothes on his back were all he had left of _her._ His chest felt heavy and a weight settled in the back of his throat. He couldn't think about it – he just couldn't.

He walked up the well-known path to camp. He stood and watched his own funeral. Watched, and felt something inside disappear as his shroud was burned up.

He saw Annabeth and he felt nothing. She saw him and suddenly the whole thing was over in a flurry of motion. Percy wasn't used to it. After so long – a lifetime it seemed – on that peaceful island the sudden whirlwind of voices and people and hands startled him. He gave a shaky smile as Annabeth hugged him and avoided Chiron's piercing eyes.

He told them he got lost. He was lying. In truth, he had never felt more _found _than he had with _her. _He told them nothing. He thought they knew anyway.

From then on he quickly fell into his old roll of hero – it fit just as well as he remembered, though everything else seemed like oil and water. His friends were disturbed by his silence and isolation. Grover poked at him when his gaze fell on a place far away and stayed there for hours. Annabeth got worried, then mad, then silent. She suspected, he knew. In some distant part of his mind he thought that he should have felt guilty or sad – he was both, just not towards her.

The battle of the labyrinth passed quickly. Then there was nothing but training and preparing and throwing himself into his work just so he could stop thinking. She never left his thoughts. He remembered that she loved him – that she was doomed to love heroes. He vowed not to fail his mission. If he failed, then his coming back was pointless. Both of their sacrifices would be in vain.

He tried not to think about it, but she slipped into his thoughts as easily as the moonlace by his window slipped beneath his eyelids at night, bringing him dreams of white robes on dark skin, warm almond eyes, and a sense of peace and something else that sent his whole body into fits of longing.

He didn't speak much outside of what was necessary. Annabeth fled from any room he entered, while Grover would look at him wide, confused eyes. Clarissa tried to goad him into fights but his anger was slow to come and quick to diminish. Chiron, sometimes, would stare at him gravely with a look as old as time itself. Percy ignored it all.

Then there was Kronos and Luke and the final battle and fear and pain and so, so much regret.

After the battle, Percy stood woodenly in the grand throne room of the gods, present as the heroes of the battle received their rewards. He didn't hear any of them. He felt hallow, as though the last little spark in him had been snuffed abruptly out. He had done what he had to. He had fulfilled the prophesy and compelted his duty.

He had nothing left.

His father called his name and Percy walked slowly up and kneeled by the sea god's feet. The hall was silent around him. Every eye was on him. He turned to look at Aphrodite and her face was of marble. He wondered if this is what she had always planned for him, or if his visit to the island had chance her plans as much as it had himself.

"Rise, my son," Poseidon commanded. Percy stood, emotionless. Poseidon said that he was to be rewarded and the other gods, miraculously were in agreement. He honestly didn't care what the gods would give him as his reward. All that he wanted was gone – gone forever on an island that can only be visited once.

"You will have one gift from the gods," Zues said, looking gravely down from his throne. Percy said nothing.

"One year ago, I would have thought to read your will, Percy Jackson," continued the lightning god seriously. His voice boomed like thunder throughout the silent hall and raised the hair on Percy's arms. "I would have offered you the greatest gift of all. If you want it still, it shall be yours. If you wish it, you shall be made a god. Immortal. Undying. Powerful for all of time. But I sense a great change in you, Perseus Jackson, and I no longer pretend to know your will."

Percy hung his head. His fists clenched unconsciously at his side. An eternity of being alone – an eternity of _this? _He shuddered. He had long made up his mind to ask for the fields upon his death, to forsake the supposed paradise he knew he would be offered in exchange for a place where he would never have to think, never have to feel again.

He raised his head and met Zues' eyes. He opened his mouth and –

"Hold your tongue, Persues!"

Aphrodite's clear, musical voice cut through the air like a throwing knife. Percy looked to her, as did the rest of the gods, stirring in surprise. The love goddess' eyes were alight in some unnamed emotion and they burned into Percy like two flaming daggers.

"Think, Percy, _think!" _she said fiercely, leaning forward from her massive throne. "If you accept this gift – if you become a god, the rules you know as a mortal will no longer apply. You will be allowed to do _anything _a god can do! Understand this, you must!"

Percy stared widely at her. The goddess chest was heaving and her perfectly manicured hands dug into her throne, leaving dents. She was obviously trying to tell him something. Why couldn't she just come out and say it. His gaze flickered around the room – over his father and Apollo and Hephasas and Hermes and –

His eyes widened. His breath caught. She couldn't mean - ! But she said - !

"I-I'll be able to go back!" he choked out. His breathing picked up, increasing so much his head grew light and his knees grew wobbly.

Aphrodite's face broke out into a smile that told it all. "Yes, dear boy, my most difficult case, you'll be able to go back."

That was it. Percy spun around and practically threw himself at Zues's feet. He was on his hands and knees, trembling so hard his whole body shook uncontrollably. Thick salty tears poured down from his face. He bowed low, on all fours, and prayed.

"Please! Please Lord Zues, give me this gift! Please let me return to her! I beg of you! I ask nothing more of you. I'll never bother you again. Just please – give me Calypso!"

Calypso! The name escaped his lips in a sob. It was the first time he'd let himself say it – though it echoed his mind like a heartbeat. Always there, pounding in him, reminding him. He lived for her. He'd left her. He needed her.

His crying echoed grossly loud across the hall. Percy kept his head down, trembling, praying so hard, he did not hear the movement or see Zues approach until a warm hand gently tilted up his chin and his eyes met the bright, compassionate eyes of the lightning god.

Zues picked him up like he was a rag doll and placed him gently on his feet. The other gods gathered around him in a tight circle, all of them wearing small smiles and laying their hands on his body. Percy still trembled. Had they not held him, he would have fallen.

With a small smile Zues leaned down and pressed a kiss onto Percy's forehead.

"You don't deserve us, Persues," he said lowly. Only the gathered gods and Percy could have heard him. "Go with peace."

The last thing Percy remembered before a bright glowing goldness that came burst out of him from inside was his father's warm hand on his chest and his great voice, like a calm ocean morning.

"Rest, son. Your wish is granted."

When he awoke it was to the smell of freshwater and cinnamon. A girl bent over him, gently brushing back his hair. Her face was timeless and it was sad and happy.

"You came back," Calypso cried.

Percy smiled. Something forgotten in his eyes returned. He reached up and kissed her, long and hard, and when they parted he said the truest words he had ever spoken.

"I never really left."


End file.
